Counterpart
by Sapphire S. Bluchiha
Summary: It's not every day that one finds they have another version of themselves in a parallel world.


**That's just what this fandom needs, _another_ crack pairing.  
****  
Disclaimer****_: I do not own Fairy Tail._**

* * *

It was quite an abnormal day in the guild hall of Fairy Tail. The place was quiet. Usually if one were to take a walk around Magnolia and speak with some of the local residents, they'd tell of a Fairy Tail that did exceptionally well in upholding its reputation for liveliness and powerful wizards (not to mention the collateral damage caused by the aforementioned powerful wizards) but this Fairy Tail was like an entirely different guild because of the rare lack of volume.

However it wasn't an uncomfortable or suffocating atmosphere, as one may have thought, but rather a calm and peaceful one that the wizards in the guild hall wished to make the most of. Team Shadow Gear were taking a break as they had just came back from a mission, Gajeel and Pantherlily stood up at the request board with Juvia trying to decide on a mission. Cana sat up at the bar drinking - as per usual - while idly chatting to Macao and Wakaba, Mirajane and Kinana were occupied with working behind said bar and the other members of the guild were dotted around really just carrying on as normal. The main thing to account for was the absence of the members of Team Natsu because they were out on a mission, hence today being one of the few less lively days to account for.

One of the newest members of the guild, the newest actually, looked across the large hall with ringed red eyes. He absentmindedly brushed a few strands of blonde hair from his face and sighed. His sound pod had run out of charge about ten minutes ago and he was bored. Eavesdropping on peoples conversations was only fun for a short amount of time before everything started to sound the same. He was bored. It was that irritating combination of having nothing to do but being too lazy to do anything. He had contemplated going on a mission but he didn't feel like it, what he really wanted was for a fight to break out; that way he'd have an excuse to do something violent. It was just a pity he couldn't afford to go around picking fights with other guild members because, as well as being the newest member; he was also one of the ones partly responsible for the Tenrou Island catastrophe. It was a miracle Makarov had accepted him into the guild in the first place and because of that, he didn't want to be excommunicated. After all, with his criminal history, Makarov could easily report him to the Magic Council and he would get arrested – awaiting execution no doubt.

Zancrow sighed again, simultaneously repressing a shudder at that thought, and looked up. It seemed like nobody had moved since he last looked up about a few minutes ago. Boredom is a funny thing; it makes one minute feel like an hour and an hour feel like an eternity. Zancrow sighed a third time, he stood up and turned to pick up his jacket when a blur of white came out of nowhere. Zancrow was mildly dazed; he had been putting away his lacrima headphones one moment, then the next, his nose hurt. A girl, roughly a year younger than himself, glanced up at him from the floor with an apologetic look in her bright blue eyes. The clattering sound that the tray she had been carrying made when it came into contact with the floor attracted a few pairs of eyes but nobody paid any real attention to the incident. A few glass mugs that had been on the tray had fallen off but none were broken. The girl, Zancrow recognised her as Lisanna Strauss, Mirajane and Elfman's younger sister, quickly picked up the mugs, carefully assembling them on the tray and stood up. He couldn't recall ever talking to her before.

"Sorry about that, I should have been watching where I was going," Lisanna apologised sheepishly.

"Yeah, you should have," Zancrow muttered coldly as he turned away.

Lisanna frowned briefly as Zancrow picked up his jacket and walked off. She sighed and began to walk back to the bar where Mira was cleaning the dirty dishes. "He really is different from his Edolas counterpart," she spoke softly.

"What did you say?"

Lisanna froze momentarily and turned to see Zancrow glaring at her. His voice was calm yet had a threatening undertone to it. Lisanna wasn't one to judge yet she could tell it wasn't wise to antagonise him but she was also surprised he heard what she said. Then again she knew that dragon slayers had an incredible listening ability so maybe a god slayer's was just as good, if not, better. "Excuse me?"

"I said; what did you call me?"

"I-I didn't call you anything," Lisanna felt more confusion than fear now, but the latter emotion was still minutely prominent.

"Yes you did, you called me an 'Edolas'," Zancrow wasn't exactly sure what she said (in truth, god slayer hearing paled in comparison to that of a dragon slayer) but he had heard her mentioning himself and then an 'Edolas', whatever that was. It was mainly because he didn't know what the hell it meant and he rashly assumed she had insulted him. He never let an insult slide, not from anyone, and he wasn't about to start now, even if they were his so-called comrades.

Meanwhile Lisanna internally breathed in relief. He just thought she insulted him by mistake. She smiled, laughing a little at the whole issue that seemed silly now in comparison to a few seconds ago. "Oh no, I didn't call you an Edolas, I was comparing you to your Edolas counterpart."

The rest of the guild may have understood that but Zancrow had no idea of any of it. What was an 'Edolas' and why did he have a counterpart in it? Were there two of him? The latter involuntarily raised an eyebrow in a confused manner, Lisanna repressed a slight giggle.

"I'll explain but it's kind of a long story," the white haired wizard gestured to the table that Zancrow had been sitting at for the majority of the day. "If you want to hear it that is?"

The latter begrudgingly sat down again, not wanting to be the only one that didn't know about… whatever this was and he had nothing better to do. Lisanna set the tray down on the table adjacent before sitting herself down to face the blonde.

"Well, there are two worlds, Earthland – which is the one that we're currently in, and Edolas – a 'parallel universe' you could call it. Because it's a parallel universe, there are parallel counterparts. For example, in Edolas there's a Natsu, a Lucy, an Erza and a Gray but their personalities are different from the ones we know. Does that make any sense?" Lisanna explained.

Zancrow was confused, actually, confused was an understatement yet he kept a calm front. For all he knew, she could be making this up.

"Yeah – I get it – but do you really expect me to believe that? How dumb do you think I am?" That came across a little more aggressive than he's wanted it to but it still expressed his point. He softened his tone a little. "Have you ever actually been there to know all this?"

"Yes actually, I… died, shall we say," Lisanna emphasised that for effect, mildly irritated at his rudeness yet was not surprised by his disbelief; the story was pretty farfetched after all. "But really I was taken to Edolas by a magical anima and I came back two years later."

Zancrow paused for a moment; he remembered overhearing stories of how a girl, Lisanna, apparently died on a mission with her brother and sister only to come back two years later without a scratch. He also briefly overheard the story of Team Natsu in Edolas trying to save the rest of the guild – something about exceeds and a giant lacrima. The pieces seemed to slot together rather well (it explained the flying talking cats anyway) plus this was pretty elaborate for an initiation prank. Maybe it was true after all? Still, he wasn't entirely convinced.

The question came out before he could stop it. "What was it like?"

"Not that much different actually," Lisanna pondered. "But unlike here in Earthland, magic was limited. In fact, there is no magic in Edolas at all. The current King of Edolas, Edo-Jellal, also known as Mystogan, sent it all here because the King of Edolas before him planned to use all of Magnolia, in the form of a giant lacrima, as a source of magic power for all of Edolas because magic power was not naturally occurring like in Earthland."

By now, Zancrow was lost (he internally cursed himself for zoning out in the middle of the story). He surmised there was a guy called Mystogan, who was Jellal's brother or something. And that Magnolia was turned into a lacrima but that was it, maybe something about a king? Zancrow never had a very long attention span, excluding when he was fighting of course, and tended to zone out sometimes. Of course it wasn't his fault, everything else was just too boring to pay attention to (or so he claimed). He was brought back to reality by Lisanna waving a hand in front of his face, not unlike the annoying trait that Ultear had adopted when he zoned out from of her boring lectures on why he couldn't just break things – or steal Kain's cookies – because he wanted to (he was eleven at the time though). Zancrow brought his gaze back to Lisanna who looked like she was losing her patience with him. He just glanced at her, looking completely indifferent.

"Were you even paying attention?" she asked, letting a small amount of annoyance creep into her tone.

"So what if I wasn't? I don't want to hear about Jellal or magical cats, tell me about me! How awesome was I? What magic did I have? Was I a god slayer? How many people did I kill?" a broad malevolent grin spread across his features at his last statement. Lisanna felt a chill go down her spine at the sight of his facial expression.

"Actually, I can answer that," she smiled brightly, drawing Zancrow's attention back to herself from the various homicidal, fire-related thoughts running through his mind. "Edo-you was not a god slayer, nor did you have any naturally occurring magical abilities because, if you had been listening previously, Edolas was very low on magical power so there wasn't enough to go around but there were magic weapons. I think he had a black flamelauncher but I could be wrong, it has been over seven years since I saw you… him… you get the picture."

Zancrow had been listening this time, listening intently. He couldn't even begin to imagine a world without magic power. At least he had some sort of magical weapon he supposed, that was better than nothing. He let her continue.

"Anyway, Edo-you was… not the complete opposite of you but there was some distinct differences. He was really cheerful but shy as well, and a bit of a pacifist. He was helpful and kind, usually very polite as well and a little timid sometimes too," Lisanna surmised.

Zancrow looked horrified, no way was that him, that could never in a million years be him. He sounded like… well he didn't have the words to describe it but he did take an immediate distaste to the personality that Lisanna had just described to him. He couldn't imagine himself like that at all; the personality just didn't fit the appearance – his appearance nonetheless. Lisanna noticed the badly hidden dismayed expression and wasn't sure whether to laugh or to offer some comfort.

"Remember this is your Edolas counterpart and he's supposed to be different," she reminded him. Zancrow seemed to take little solace in this. Lisanna was tempted to pat him on the shoulder comfortingly but the fact that he was so unpredictable kept her from doing such.

"You did have a few things in common as well," she continued. "Like your pyromaniacal tendencies."

Zancrow had a feeling that no matter how many of him there were in however many alternate realities, all of them would be a pyromaniac to some extent. Or at the very least share an appreciation for the destructive element.

"And your enormous ego as well."

"I do not have an enormous ego, it's just that you can't handle how awesome I am," Zancrow grinned before realising that he just subconsciously proved her point. He didn't really care though. He was a god after all (in his own eyes anyway).

"No, I think you're very modest," Lisanna said, sarcasm prominent in her tone. She inwardly cringed at her failed attempt to be humorous and awkwardly drummed her fingers on the wooden surface at the unamused look Zancrow shot her for her statement. "I suppose it would be better just to tell you about the time I first met your Edolas self instead of just describing him to you, huh?"

"Fine," Zancrow rolled his eyes. He was starting to get bored again.

"Ok, it was when I had been in Edolas for a few months or so when I met… 'you' so to speak…"

* * *

_It was a dull day at the guild. The rain poured down outside the giant plant-like structure. The guild hall had taken severe damage after the most recent attack from the King's Guard, or more specifically, the self-proclaimed 'Fairy Hunter' – also known as Erza Knightwalker, had made an especially brutal attack this time. It had taken all they had to move to a new location and it had taken a week and a half to recover. Morale was at an all-time low and not even Mirajane could cheer up the deflated guild members. Lisanna sighed from her spot at the bar where she was clearing up and mending some of the unnoticed damage from the attack. On the plus side, Jet and Droy were too down to bully Elfman and that was an added bonus she supposed. _

_The double doors were thrown open, interrupting the dreary quiet, and a wild mop of long spiky blonde hair stumbled through the entrance panting, his eyes tired and he clutched the open wound on his side with a blood covered hand. The strange figure fell to his knees in exhaustion, coughing up blood. The guild members were by him in seconds, leading him to the infirmary in the guild. Lisanna looked in curiosity to the figure disappearing upstairs with the help from some of the other people present. Who was that guy? Was it another guild member that she hadn't met yet? She never recognised him from Earthland's Fairy Tail. Maybe like Lucy, Juvia and Wendy he was someone who joined after she had come to Edolas?_

_"Who was that?" Lisanna muttered loudly. The question had slipped from her lips before she could stop it, forgetting the consequences of asking such a question like that. She didn't want to raise suspicion after all._

_"What do you mean?" Mira must have heard. Lisanna froze in place, trying to act nonchalant, "That's Zancrow, he's a good friend of yours."_

_Lisanna didn't even have to look at her sister to see that she was a little suspicious. It was understandable really. "O-oh yeah, I remember now. I must have forgotten… after my accident." She turned to Mira who had gone back to washing dishes, relived that the elder of the two seemed convinced._

_"I think you should go up and see him," Mira smiled. "He doesn't know that you're back so it'll be a nice surprise for him considering what must have happened."_

_"Yeah," Lisanna sighed as she sat the plate down on the countertop. Drying her hands on the towel there, she stepped out from behind the bar where she had been previously working to go and see everyone else upstairs. Gray, Juvia, Wendy, Natsu and Lucy went up there with him and since then, only Juvia had come back down – more than likely to get away from Gray. One would think he'd learn after literally being rolled into a table as a rejection._

_Lisanna made her way upstairs, dread in her stomach. What was this Zancrow person like? How long had they known each other? Of course when meeting all the new people in the guild (particularly Lucy, Wendy and Juvia) she had to go through this but it never got any easier no matter how many times she had, and would have to, go through it. Lisanna had been keeping track of all the lies she'd had to tell ever since getting here so as not to blow her cover on one silly slip of the tongue. She had never been a good liar before but had now become positively flawless in just a short amount of time and she hated herself for it. She hated having to deceive the people she cared about but she couldn't bear the thought of them finding out that 'their' Lisanna was dead because then she'd serve as a constant reminder of that. She'd already left one family heartbroken and she would be damned if she'd have another. This was her burden and her burden alone._

_Arriving on the landing, Lisanna walked up to the infirmary entrance. The simple doorway seemed huge and intimidating, towering over her like an obelisk. Nevertheless she took another deep breath and chapped lightly on the wooden door. Gray's voice told her it was okay to come in. _

_"Here we go again," she thought as she entered the room._

_Upon entrance, all the heads turned and she got a better look at the one called Zancrow who she apparently knew very well. His long, spiky blonde hair fell about four or five inches past his shoulders. His skin tone was slightly paler than it probably should have been as she noticed the blood covered bandages wrapped around his shirtless torso. Oddly enough, blood was the first thing Lisanna thought of when she looked at his eyes, a deep shade of scarlet red. She was positive she had never seen him before in her life yet he apparently seemed to know her, judging by the look on his face when he saw her._

_"Li-Lisanna… i-is that you?" he tried to sit up but grimaced and lay back down, clutching his side. Whatever had happened to him could not have been pleasant at all._

_"Yeah, it's me," she chuckled, "You can't get rid of me that easily I'm afraid."_

_Zancrow continued to gape at her, unable to form the words for a comprehensible sentence, that is, until Lucy broke the silence._

_"Enough! You were telling us what happened to you, remember?" Lucy bunched her hands up into fists. Natsu flinched at her words even though they weren't directed at him. Zancrow's attention went to Lucy as he smiled, chuckling sheepishly._

_"I had a run in with Knightwalker as I was trying to track you guys down – didn't know you'd moved again," he said with a slight amount difficulty; shuddering as the memories came back to him. "As you can see, it didn't go all too well. I was just trying to get away from her." _

_"No kidding," Gray spoke up. A quick glare from Lucy and he was silent._

_"Why are you here?" Lucy's harsh voice cut the silence that Gray had created. Lisanna barely registered him leaving the room (either out of fear of Lucy or to go and see/annoy Juvia again – she wasn't sure) leaving herself, Wendy, Zancrow, Natsu and Lucy remaining. "You told Pirate Flatbeard that we need those magic weapons more than anything right?"_

_The previous guild master of Fairy Tail had been killed (brutally) by Erza Knightwalker so when nobody could decide on who should succeed him, Lucy Ashley, as one of the people who had been in Fairy Tail the longest, stepped up to take the role of guild master. She was perhaps the best choice (no one dared defy her as they feared her wrath in the form of her torture techniques – something Natsu had the pleasure of experiencing daily) and part of being the guild master included having to meet with a black market magic weapons dealer with which Fairy Tail were allied to: Grimoire Heart (which – to the average passerby – was a perfectly innocent bookshop), led by a man who went by the alias of 'Hades'(who, according to Lucy, looked like a pirate with his hat and eyepatch but his beard was cut in an odd way – like someone had just taken it and cut it with scissors, leaving an unnatural horizontal line, hence the nickname given). Each one of the seven main members who worked for him – known as the 'Seven Kin' – acted as messengers to each of the dark guilds who had refused to disband under the King's orders. With Fairy Tail being the only guild left in requirement of their services, Hades had no other option but to fully ally with Fairy Tail. Zancrow acted as a messenger between Hades and Fairy Tail, going back and forth between the two to keep both Lucy Ashley and Hades in contact which was essential in this dangerous and risky line of business._

_"Yes – although I'd rather you didn't call Mr Hades tha—"_

_"I don't care! Just shut up and tell me why the hell you're here!"_

_"Yes, well…" Lisanna could have sworn she heard Zancrow's voice rise an octave or two when Lucy slammed her fist down onto the bedside cabinet, as well as him shrinking away from her. She couldn't blame him, as nice as she was, Lucy Ashley was terrifying. "Mr Hades is a-actually concerned about how long Fairy Tail is… going to… last…"_

_He trailed off at the end of his sentence, leaving the implications of his statement open. Even those who didn't understand only had to take a look around and catch on; the place was a mess. The Fairy Hunter had done a number on them this time and despite their best (and somewhat successful) attempts to fix everything, the guild members were becoming less and less confident that they could hide forever. Every time Knightwalker had invaded, the amount of people surviving seemed less and less. They had had members leave and even spies within; all the other guilds had fallen, leaving no reason for the Royal Guard not to keep coming at Fairy Tail full force until each member was either imprisoned or dead. Erza had told them this herself, accompanied by a particularly bloody display made of the guild master which had made Lisanna physically and emotionally sick to witness (Earthland Erza had been a good friend to her after all). _

_"No…"_

_The rooms inhabitants broke from their sad reminiscing to see Lucy Ashley almost crying, a once in million lifetimes opportunity. Her fist trembled and she visibly shook – a little though but it was still there._

_"You go back to old Flatbeard, and you tell him this. Sure, we may be the last guild left and yeah, we're all S-rank fugitives wanted dead or alive but what matters is that we still have the will to defy that old fart of a king and we still have each other. What matters isn't about the constant death threat looming over our heads, it's that we have the strength to stand up and fight for what we believe in! We have each other, here at Fairy Tail, we're not just friends, we're family and it's our will that keeps us going; not mere luck! We'll fight the Royal Guard 'til the day we die and if Flatbeard doesn't like it then he can get off his butt and come tell me himself!"_

_Her brown eyes shone with fierce determination. Lisanna couldn't help but be uplifted by her speech, despite all the obvious differences, the people here held the same will and courage as her family back home. It's what made them Fairy Tail after all. Lisanna was so caught up in her musings that she barely registered Lucy getting up and leaving with Natsu following suit._

_Wendy finished re-bandaging Zancrow's wounds and promptly upped and left, leaving him and Lisanna remaining in the room. This was the part where Lisanna began to feel bad again._

_"I still can't believe you're alive," Zancrow said, a happy smile gracing his features. "When they said you were missing I was really worried."_

_Lisanna returned the smile; "Like I said, you can't get rid of me that easily."_

_"I'd be concerned if that was the case. Despite what happened with Knightwalker, my day is now so much better."_

_Lisanna gave him a reassuring hug; "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon so you don't have to worry."_

_They continued their conversation (catching up and whatnot) for a little longer before Lisanna insisted Zancrow rest. He may have genuinely escaped with his life if he had been telling the truth about how awesome a fighter he was and not just boasting. Lisanna shuddered as she exited the infirmary; she had witnessed first-hand what Erza Knightwalker could do and Zancrow could have come off worse than he was despite the fact that he was apparently a pacifist. Nevertheless, he wasn't dead and that was a bonus. Talking to him was a lot easier than she expected. She was beginning to believe that her and her Edolas self's personalities were incredibly similar unlike that of Mirajane, the Mira she used to know was violent and did incredibly well in living up to her alias of 'The Demon' whereas this Mira was kind and gentle. Regardless of such, Zancrow seemed like a nice guy but she was relatively disappointed – same with Lucy, Wendy and Juvia – that she would never know what their Earthland counterparts were like. Still, Lisanna never failed to look on the bright side of things, she had somehow travelled to another world and she was meeting new people. She may have been a criminal but at least she had her family. It wasn't all bad…_

* * *

"We spoke quite a few more times after that, before I came back to Earthland. I feel bad about leaving him as well as everybody else tho—"

Lisanna stopped in the middle of her thoughts by Zancrow sitting with his arms on the table, cushioning his head, accompanied by obvious fake snoring. She exhaled sharply, wondering if he'd even been listening at all. He raised his head, rubbing his eyes.

"You done?"

Lisanna held back an indignant response, knowing better than to argue with a person as extremely volatile as himself. Little did she know, he actually had been listening the whole time, he just didn't want anyone to think he was getting into all the lame friendship crap that fuelled this place by paying attention to other people. Besides, the sleeping pretence was actually just to hide his laughter at how much of a pathetic coward Natsu Dragion was. At least his counterpart didn't flinch and cry anytime somebody spoke. He was annoyed that he managed to apparently get beat by Edo Erza (who was probably not even that bad). He was pretty sure 'Fairy Hunters' were below gods anyway. Apparently in Edolas, flying cats were classed as gods and he could take out Happy in a nanosecond so yeah, he was above flying cats too.

While he was pondering over who he was better than, Lisanna sighed, she had a feeling that he had been paying attention but was just acting like a jerk to save face; he did claim he was a god after all and had, on multiple occasions, claimed to be better than everyone else in the guild (despite the fact that he got beat by Natsu). She could understand him on some level but the rest was a mystery. It was weird, she had a definite feeling that he was singling himself out on purpose, not accepting… acceptance. His superiority complex wouldn't let him befriend his once enemies, now guildmates but if he was anything like Gajeel was, he'd come around. It would probably take a bit longer considering Phantom Lord was, like Fairy Tail, a light guild whereas Grimoire Heart was a dark guild, the morale and views on comradeship were completely different. Still, she hoped that one day, he would be happy in Fairy Tail. Even bad guys deserved to be happy.

"This place is way too cheerful to be a dark guild," she heard him idly comment. Whether she was meant to hear it or not, Lisanna was unsure but it did make her smile for some reason she wasn't entirely aware of.

"Are you going to tell me more about my stupid Edolas counterpart or can I leave?"

"Um… not really, I've told you pretty much all I know about you from Edolas, sorry if it was a disappointment," Zancrow held back a 'so you should be', remembering it was those same four words that helped initiate this whole conversation in the first place. Lisanna continued. "But at least you know all about Edolas and stuff so you won't be left out when it comes up in conversation."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm going now."

Lisanna stood up, knees stiff from sitting so long, and picked up the tray she was supposed to take back to the bar ages ago and began to head back to her sister, at said bar, as Zancrow walked the opposite way.

"Nice talking to you," Lisanna said, her voice rose a little so he would hear, hoping to end the conversation on a more positive note.

The blonde haired wizard simply kept walking, only motioning in a goodbye gesture. (Zancrow will forever continue to tell himself that if his wrist hadn't cracked at that moment, he would have flipped her off.)

Lisanna smiled and continued her walk back to the bar where Mira and Kinana had been working all day. She nearly dropped the tray (again) when she realised that she had been talking to Zancrow the whole afternoon, leaving all her work to the former two. However the second thing Lisanna noticed was that Kinana was the only one working, washing dishes, and Mira was sitting behind the bar with a far too innocent smile on her face and that look in her eye that Lisanna knew all too well. The latter deadpanned, feeling a rising heat in her face.

"Mira…"

* * *

_Meanwhile, Edolas Zancrow had just recovered from a violent sneezing fit. He wondered what had brought it on; it couldn't have been his allergies as there were no cats nearby..._

_"Someone must be talking about me."_

* * *

_**This ship is officially Mirajane-approved! Not really, this is more of a brOTP , inspired by a recurring joke between me and my friends and a conversation with someone on DeviantART about if Zancrow had an Edolas counterpart. This is my take on that concept because I really like Zancrow and I wish he had been in it more and not got killed...  
Who else to tell him about this but Lisanna (another character I wish was in it more) who lived in Edolas for two years. (And would never bitch about Lucy, bully her or anything like that so you people need to STOP writing those crappy clichéd stories where that happens because it's out of character and just damn obnoxious!)**  
**How Zancrow got into Fairy Tail in the first place, you readers can decide, I deliberately made that ambiguous.**_

_**And last but not least, a massive thanks to Fluffy T. Banchuck and TheOneTheOnlyGajeelRedfox ( on ) for all your help and support, you guys are awesome!**_

_**If you have any questions regarding any of my published works, please don't hesitate to PM me.  
Read and review please.**_


End file.
